.L77 



v^k^ 







THE INSINCERITY AND DUPLICITY OF THE REPUBLICAN 
PARTY EXPOSED. 



AN APPEAL FOR CUBAN LIBERTY. 



SPEECH 




HON. JOHN S?LITTLE, 






IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JANUARY lO, 1898. 



■WA-SHINGTON, 

1898, 



Lll 



68315 



^ SPEECH 

^ 9,^ HON. JOHN S. LITTLE. 
Z^' 

4^ • The House Iseing in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and 
having under consideration the bill (H. R. 4751) making appropriations for 
X • the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the 
.^A;» fiscal year ending June 30, 1899, and for other purposes— 

Mr. LITTLE said: 

Mr. Chairman: Standing with the Democratic party and its 
platform, I desire to say that I am opposed to the civil service 
, in principle, in theory, and in practice. Its principles as now- 

practiced I regard as undemocratic, contrary to the genius of 
our Republic, and positively obnoxious to the great mass of the 
people of our country. In its theories it is a humbug: it prom- 
ises and never performs. In practice it is a colossal fraud. If 
administered according to the intention of its authors and advo- 
cates, it leads to a life tenure in office and a civil pension roll 
which ought to be and is intolerable to every patriotic American 
citizen. 

I have never been able to discover, Mr. Chairman, why a man 
who has enjoyed his share of the good things of life when he was 
young, occupying a good position, drawing a good salary, and 
doing light work, when he grows old should be entitled to any 
m.ore of the benefactions of the Government than the man who 
has been compelled to toil in the sunshine and storm to make a 
li\ingfor himself and his family. The only exception made under 
our Constitiiition in favor of life tenure in office was yielded to 
the Federal judiciary, and that after a long and continued con- 
test; and I believe, Mr. Chairman, if the present has not estab- 
lished the fact, that the future will demonstrate that this was one 
of the great mistakes made by the wise anci good men who framed 
our Constitution. [Applause on the Democi'atic side.] 

If, sir, the men who occupy seats in the Supreme Court of this 
Government had to respond to the voice of the people, we would 
have no fear that there ever would be a rule permanently estab- 
lished in this country whereby the property and incomes of the 
rich would be exempt from taxation and the burdens of the Gov- 
ernment placed upon the poor but industrious people. [Loud 
applause on the Democratic side.] 

But, Mr. Chairman, I did not intend to enter into a general dis- 
cussion of the civil service. Our friends on the other side, I think, 
are engaged, in a very profitable discussion, one that will demon- 
strate to the' country the insincerity of their platform and their 
' inability to administer the principles upon which they were 
elected. 1 was a long time in the brush before I knew who was 
chargeable with this civil-service law. The Republican con- 
vention relieves me of further doubt. The platform reads: 

The civil-service law was placed upon the statute book by the Republican 
party— 

And this is the first time in the history of this House that a party 
has turned to destroy its own progeny — 
which has always sustained it — 
■ And they say — 

and we renew our repeated declarations that it shall be thoroughly and 
honestly enforced and extended wherever practicable. 

3 2902 







No modification is suggested, no repeal suggested. But we find 
when we come to this Congress that men who were elected upon 
that platform seek now to destroy it, and I am reminded ©f ,the 
couplet of Sir Walter Scott: * ^■ 

Oh, what a tangled web we weave V- .. 

When first we practice to deceive. 

[Laughter.] 

Gentlemen, you find yourselves divided, and you will find youi'- 
selves incapable of dealing with this evil unless you receive the 
support of the Democratic side; and you vvdll not receive that on 
any amendment you may offer whereby you may expect to rele- 
gate Democrats out and Republicans in. If you want to repeal 
it, if yon want to strike down the evil, I believe you will have the 
support of almost all gentlemen on this side of the House; but no 
amendment which does not carry out, in good faith, the demands 
of the Democratic platform can receive our support. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, on Januarys my friend from Indiana [Mr. 
LandisJ made use of this truthful language, this real proi^hecy, 
this inspired truth, as the future will demonstrate: 

We propose that they shall be corrected— 

Speaking of the evils of the civil service — 

and if this Congress does not correct them, the people, shod with indigna- 
tion and clothed with wrath, will send a Congress here that will correct them. 

Right, my friend! A Congress will be here after the next elec- 
tion, and a Congress bold enough and true enough to the American 
people to deal with this question and all other public questions as 
they should be— in the interests of the people. The gentleman 
seems to have lost hope. 

Also the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Pearson] , on 
January 5, made use of this prophetic language: 

And I tell the gentleman from Pennsylvania — 

Speaking to Mr. Bp.O'=;^us— 

And I tell the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and with this I close, that ever 
since this law was passed— the Democrats ought not to hear this, but they 
know it [laughter] — ever since this law was passed, at every election follow- 
ing the election of a Presider t the House of Repi'esentatives goes against the 
party in power, and at the next quadrennial election it goes against the party 
in power for the control of the Presidency, and it will be so just as long as 
the Republican party will permit itself and its polic^^ to be guided by the 
pioiis and holy gentlemen in William street and their disciples. 

These gentlemen seem to have lost all hope for the future of the 
grand old party. I commend to them the following lines, which 
are, I believe, from Milton: 

So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear; 
Farewell remorse; all good to me is lost. 
Evil, be thou my good. 

But, Mr. Speaker, the distinguished and original gentleman 
from North Carolina [Mr. Linney] , on December 10, 1897, more 
vividly portrayed the evil way of the Republican party and its 
dismal future in this splendid, inimitable declaration: 

The gentleman can rely much on party organization. 

Referring to the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Allen], I 
believe. 

The gentleman can rely much on party organization. I must rely upon 
the pui'ifying process of reasoning addressed to the intellect and conscience. 
And let me tell yoii that if this system of civil service continues I will not 
get lO.UOt) votes next year. Neither will the Republican party in my State 
present force enough to grease a gimlet to bore a hole to bury ourselves. 

The truth is that prophecy will be true not only in North Caro- 
lina, but nowhere in this great country will there be enough of 
the old machine left to serve the purpose indicated by the gentle- 



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man from North Carolina. To him I breathe these pleasant 
lines: 

Come, disappointment, come, 
, " But not in thy terrors clad. 

Come in thy meekest, saddest guise 
To the reckless and the bad. 

Mr. Chairman, not only has the Republican party gone back on 
this part of its platform, but we all know that during the last 
campaign you were all bimetallistd of the international kind. 
To-day you are but the chained slaves of gold monometallism, 
unable to free yourselves from its embrace. The Secretary of 
the Treasury. Mr. Grage, the financial high priest and mouthpiece 
of the Administration, declares that the purposes of the bill pre- 
pared by him which has been presented to the Committee on 
Banking and Currency is designed to more thoroughly and per- 
manently commit the country t^ the gold standard; and it pro- 
poses to go beyond that and destroy the greenback, to destroy the 
silver certificates, and to surrender the sovereignty of this Gov- 
ernment to the national banks, and thereby make the burdens of 
the people more intolerable. 

Mr. Chairman, if this was all the wrath of the people might be 
stayed for a time; but there is a sadder question. There is a ques- 
tion involving human liberty, the life of a struggling people — a 
question whether the good offices of this Government shall be 
used in behalf of the struggling patriots of Cuba. Let me read, 
Mr. Chairman, a declaration of Gen. Maximo Gomez, a message 
sent by him to the American people on Christmas morning. He 
says: 

All that I have to say regarding this great and heroic war in Cuba is a com- 
plete ratification of our manifesto issued at Monte Christo. You may make 
it known to the American people that it is the firm resolution of the army 
and people of Cuba, who have shed so much blood in order to gain their inde- 
pendence, not to falter in their just cause until death or triumph crowns 
their efforts. M. GOMEZ. 

Language as eloquent as ever dropped from the burning lips of 
Patrick Henry. It comes from a man whose patriotism and cour- 
age rank high among the patriots and soldiers of any age. 

These people struck the blow for liberty, and for three j'ears 
they have maintained it with a courage and sacrifice and devotion 
that has won the fove and respect of liberty-loving people all over 
the world. One-third of their population has been destroyed, and 
every breeze that blows from the sunlit shores of that ill-fated 
island bears upon its bosom the tears and prayers of a struggling 
people. They learned their songs of liberty from our people, they 
gathered the hope of freedom from our flag, and yet the majority 
on the other side of this House sit unmoved and unconcerned. 

Mr. Chairman, the same tyranny that rides down these people 
lias insulted our flag. It has destroyed twenty millions of prop- 
erty of our people and has imprisoned and outraged our citizens. 
How long shall this great country submit to these great outrages 
at the hands of this puny and decaying t>Tanny? Mr. Chair- 
man, how long must liberty, bleeding, wait for affirmative action 
upon the part of our Government? Let us act promptly, let us 
act now, let our love for liberty and humanity insspire us to uphold 
the banner of liberty in the hands of these struggling people. 

Oh, give, great God, to freedom's waves to ride 
Sublime o'er Conquest, Avarice, and Pride- 
To sweep where Pleasure decks her guilty bowers. 
And dark Oppression builds her thick-ribb'd towers. 

Touch but the shores of Cuba with our flag, and the shouts of 
her freedom will roll round the world. [Applause.] 
2902 o 



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